Following a video preview of Flash running on a Nexus One, Adobe rebuffed claims that the software slashes battery life. Per Electronista, several bloggers observed that the battery charge indicator dropped from the 50% level down to 25% during the eight minute video. The preview was edited, however, making it unclear how long the team actually used the phone during filming.

In order to refute the battery claims, Adobe has created another video showing a 17-minute YouTube movie which does not appear to significantly drain the battery. The battery usage chart suggests the browser only accounted for 6% of the drain while the movie was playing.

Per MediaMemo, the Hulu TV streaming service may be offered by subscription only on Apple’s new hardware, according to a new report.

Citing sources familiar with Hulu, which is owned by three of the largest U.S. broadcast networks, Peter Kafka reported Friday that the service, which is free for Web users, will likely be pay-only for the iPad. He said the “most likely scenario” would involve some sort of subscription package.

Hulu has been rumored for months to be exploring some sort of subscription plan to help the Web site turn a profit. Sources reportedly said the company is still unsure of the approach it will take with its anticipated premium service, and those issues would need to be resolved before an iPad plan could be made official.

Among the problems for Hulu would be Adobe Flash. Last week, the media Web site was rumored to be working on an iPad-friendly version of its Web site, which would operate without Flash.

Given all of the hurdles that lie in front of the service, Kafka said it’s “very unlikely” that Hulu would launch its subscription plan or have a presence on the iPad when it launches at the end of March. But he noted that Apple would “love it” if Hulu could meet that tight time frame.

Weeks ago, Jobs was in New York meeting with numerous media outlets, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to pitch the iPad. In addition to the Hulu-related rumors, the trip produced allegations that Jobs disparaged Flash as “old technology” doomed to failure in meetings with newspaper officials.

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Adobe Chief Technical Officer defended the Flash platform this week against rumored comments from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and also said performance improvements for the scrutinized, embattled Web platform are coming to the Mac.

Per BoomTown, Lynch stated that unlike Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ rumored comments, the Adobe staff wasn’t lazy and said he and his team work very hard on their company’s product.

“It feels pretty busy around here, so I’m not sure what that’s about,” Lynch said. “And that’s a rumor. I haven’t heard that necessarily he did say that. But maybe he did, whatever.”

He went on to say that regardless of whether Jobs said anything disparaging about Adobe, he and the company are receptive to public criticism. He said they are working to improve the Flash experience for users.

“We’re totally open to hearing feedback like that,” Lynch said. “And that’s one of the really important things to do in a situation like this, when people are complaining about something — not going into internal mode, or whatever, (but) really listening to what people are saying. We do that with our customers, we do that with our critics, and often there are kernels in there that we ought to do something about, and so we are.”

Lynch then revealed that Adobe is working to improve the performance of Flash on the Mac. Currently, he admitted, video renders are more processor intensive on Apple’s hardware than they are on Windows machines.

He also made note of Adobe’s forthcoming Creative Suite 5 for Mac, which he said is “just terrific.”

“We work with Apple all of the time,” Lynch said. “We’re one of the biggest Macintosh software makers around.”

Lynch said that 19 of the top 20 smartphone makers (Apple being the only one absent) have signed on to the company’s Open Screen Project and its push for Flash on mobile devices. He also said that 85% of the top Web sites on the Internet feature Flash content.

But Flash’s spotty performance history on the Mac platform and processor-intensive requirements have led Apple to support alternatives such as HTML5. The Cupertino, Calif., company has even encouraged developers to “stick with standards” and use CSS, JavaScript and Ajax instead of Adobe Flash.

Lynch told Swisher that Adobe is supportive of the progression of HTML, including HTML5. This week it was said that an Adobe official was attempting to hold up advancement of the HTML5 spec, though those claims were later disputed.

“I know that there are certainly some who are working on HTML5 who are out to kill Flash,” Lynch said, adding that he doesn’t see the push for HTML5 as a move to “kill” Flash.

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There’s give and take with Steve Jobs. He gives a great presentation, then hunkers down in a town hall meeting with employees and assigns blame where he feels it should be placed. Following the most recent incident when Jobs cited a lack of Flash on the iPhone or iPad due to Flash’s buggy nature and Adobe’s “laziness”, Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch responded with a blog post claiming Flash is “ready” for the iPhone and iPad.

In the post, Lynch dissected the arguments made against Flash, including one that claimed Flash had closed users off to a significant amount of content on the web:

“Some have been surprised at the lack of inclusion of Flash Player on a recent magical device. Flash has been incredibly successful in its adoption, with over 85% of the top web sites containing Flash content and Flash running on over 98% of computers on the Web… It is used for the majority of casual games, video, and animation on the Web and familiar brands like Nike, Hulu, BBC, Major League Baseball, and more rely on Flash to deliver the most compelling experiences to over a billion people.”

Lynch then went on to work to debunk the idea that Flash wasn’t ready for the iPhone or other mobile platforms:

“The Flash engineering team has taken this on with a major overhaul of the mainstream Flash Player for a variety of devices. We are now on the verge of delivering Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones with all but one of the top manufacturers. This includes Google’s Android, RIM’s Blackberry, Nokia, Palm Pre and many others across form factors including not only smartphones but also tablets, netbooks, and internet-connected TVs.”

Finally, Lynch stated that Adobe is “ready to enable Flash in the browser on [Apple’s] devices if and when Apple chooses to allow that for its users, but to date we have not had the required cooperation from Apple to make this happen.”

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In the wake of Apple’s iPad release, Adobe Systems reached out to its Flash developer base via a blog post stating its plans to add support for the iPad’s higher screen resolution to its upcoming Packager for iPhone development tool.

Although the iPad offers a significantly larger screen and packs more powerful hardware than the iPhone and iPod Touch, it won’t support Flash when released in the coming months.

Per the post, Flash developers can use Adobe’s upcoming Packager for iPhone tool to convert Flash content into applications that can run on the iPad. The converted content won’t immediately be able to take advantage of the iPad screen’s resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixel resolution and the company said this feature would arrive later.

“It is our intent to make it possible for Flash developers to build applications that can take advantage of the increased screen size and resolution of the iPad,” the post said.

The iPhone and iPod touch handsets feature screen resolutions of 480 x 320 pixels, with a pixel density of 163 pixels per inch. The iPad screen has a pixel density of 132 pixels per inch.

Adobe also asked for developers interested in developing iPad applications using Flash to get in touch.

“We are looking for developers and designers who have a specific app in mind to be submitted to the iTunes App Store within the next two months,” the blog post said.

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Software gets pricey, but today it might not have to be. Per MacNN, major programs from Adobe, Intuit and Parallels have also become a part of special Black Friday software deals. Amazon is currently selling Adobe’s CS4 Design Standard Student Edition for US$296, the CS4 Web Premium Student Edition for US$350, and the CS4 Design Premium Student Edition for US$404 with discounts between 78 and 79% lower than list price.

Adobe itself is now selling Photoshop Elements 8 for just US$60, US$40 lower than normal. The price does require taking advantage of a US$20 mail-in rebate, but at least includes free shipping. Parallels has dropped US$10 off its Desktop 5.0 virtualization software, whereas VMware is selling Fusion 3.0 for $16 less with the code “dsktp20sale”.

Finally, Intuit has dropped the price of QuickBooks 2010 to US$160, though MacMall is offering it for as little as US$150.

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If two technology companies each worth billions to their assorted stockholders can’t resolve a longstanding issue, then they should publicly insult each other.

According to Gear Diary, Adobe has cast the blame on Apple, changing its Flash download page to display the following text on iPhone and iPod touch units:

Listen up, you may want flash but you can’t have flash- at least not on this device. Why? Don’t blame us. It is certainly doable to enable flash on this thing but Apple RESTRICTS the technology needed to make it happen. And until Apple changes their policy you are out of luck. Seriously, we WANT to give you Flash. It would be our pleasure to give you Flash. We are ready to give you Flash. Seriously! But Apple won’t let us. Adobe – Good. Apple- Bad.

I’m staying tuned until next week when the two companies begin with the “Yo Mamma” jokes, which can only help raise their stock prices.